About 75 residents of Pasadena, Altadena and La Canada Flintridge — uneasy about the effects of a massive dredging project behind Devil’s Gate Dam in Hahamongna Watershed Park — added a new concern to their list during Thursday’s community meeting.

Many booed and groaned when representatives from Katherine Padilla & Associates or KPA, a public relations firm hired by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works to run the meeting, told those at Jackson Elementary School in Altadena that they should write down their comments instead of speaking them aloud.

Some felt the system of flip charts, mini-group sessions and questions re-interpreted by county and public relations representatives masked their feelings about the project. Worse, others felt the system was designed to tamp down opposition.

“They don’t want us to co-educate each other,” said Lori Paul, a biologist and Altadena resident opposed to the project. “They are trying to create the illusion of consensus.”

When KPA’s Senior Associate Sam Gennawey tried to reassure the audience after initially cutting off questions. “The meeting is designed to listen to you,” Gennawey said to groans from the audience. “Other meetings will try to sell you something. We are a bit different,” he said, drawing laughter.

After the group sessions, the larger meeting reconvened and Gennawey roamed the room with microphone in hand. Many asked questions about the project itself, saying the numbers of cubic yards of sediment to be removed grew from 1.6 million in 2011, to 2.9 million and as much as 4 million. Some said the shifting numbers “did not engender trust” with the county or its consultants.

When Pasadena resident Dianne Patrizzi asked if the area was an Indian burial ground, and if so, did the Environmental Impact Report study this, Gennawey asked the other experts: “Is there a poltergeist in the project?”

Advertisement

Those in the auditorium were indignant, saying he was making a mockery of their questions. “I apologize if my comment was flippant,” Gennawey told the audience.

Environmental consultant Brian Mooney with the Chambers Group, hired by the county in 2011 to prepare the Environmental Impact Report, responded: “We checked with the tribes. There was no identification of a sacred site by the Indian tribes.” However, Mooney added that the Gabrielino Indians, the native peoples who once inhabited the Hahamongna Park area, are not recognized by the United States government as an official tribe.

The county used this method for its first meeting on the project held Nov. 6 at the Rose Bowl and was successful, said Kerjon Lee, county DPW spokesman who also attended the meeting but did not speak. He said they may adjust the format for today’s public meeting from 2 to 4 p.m. at the La Canada Flintridge Community Center, 4469 Chevy Chase Drive, La Canada Flintridge.

The $70 million project calls for dredging 2.9 million cubic yards of sediment or more, depending on future storms and debris flows, from Hahamongna. Four million cubic yards at maximum weight per cubic yard would equal 8.64 billion pounds of sediment.

Dirt, debris and existing trees and shrubs will be scraped by bulldozers and loaded onto double dump trucks and taken to old mining pits in Irwindale via Oak Grove Avenue and the 210 Freeway, according to the EIR.

This amounts to 50 trucks per hour, six days a week, roughly between April 15 and Dec. 15 for five years, confirmed project managers and consultants.

Some in the audience called the number of trucks “intolerable” and wanted the county to reduce that impact. Many suggested removing sediment at a much slower pace over a longer period of time. This would reduce the frequency of trucks on local streets and freeways.

Other criticized the county for considering this project an emergency caused by 1.6 million cubic yards of sediment that settled behind the dam from winter storms occurring after the 2009 Station Fire.

Without clearing out the sediment that extends well into Hahamongna Park as a vegetative, riparian habitat, the dam can’t function at full capacity, said Keith Lilley, project manager. This increases the risk of flooding on local streets, the 210 Freeway and homes in Pasadena located south of the dam along the Arroyo Seco.

“Their deferred maintenance doesn’t make this an emergency,” said Tim Brick, Pasadena resident and former president of the Metropolitan Water District board of directors. “They need to go slow. Take 20 years to do this. There’s no reason to destroy 100 acres of riparian vegetation to use for parking trucks.”

Others in the audience liked the EIR’s third alternative, to leave a small portion of the habitat untouched but clear out the rest. Later, some areas could be re-vegetated in about 15 years, Lilley said.

“I am amazed that (county) Flood Control would make that kind of concession to address local concerns,” said Bob Hayward of Altadena.

But Paul said the so-called environmentally superior alternative won’t make much difference. The land used by Pasadena Audubon and school groups to observe quail, snakes and the endangered least bell’s vireo will be destroyed.

“You are going to turn this into a moonscape,” Paul said. “It will be most useful for JPL to test rovers for Mars.”

The Chambers Group will collect written comments and incorporate them into a final EIR. Dredging must be approved by the Board of Supervisors and could begin in 2015 and last until 2020.